<![CDATA[This study examines how networking and negotiation skills manifest as digital communication competencies among Indonesian high school students. With internet penetration reaching 79.5% in 2024 and Generation Z constituting the largest user group at 34.4% (APJII, 2024), understanding how adolescents develop communicative competencies in online spaces has become increasingly urgent. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, this study combines a purposive online survey of Karya Ilmiah Remaja (KIR) students in South Jakarta with in-depth case study interviews of two highly engaged participants. Findings reveal four key results: participants demonstrated critical information-seeking practices reinforced by their KIR research background; they used social media platforms in purposefully differentiated ways for learning, creative expression, and entertainment; they exercised negotiation competence through dual-account identity management and sensitivity to SARA issues; and participatory culture experience had produced a reversal of intergenerational communicative authority, with adolescents educating parents about digital norms. This study contributes to communication scholarship by repositioning networking and negotiation as core digital communication competencies, and by situating Jenkins' framework within a culturally specific Indonesian context.]]>
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